


Small Variations

by DefeatedHorizon



Category: NCIS, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Realities, Episode: s03e06 Point of View, Episode: s03e18 Shades of Grey, Gen, Humor, McGee and Carter's improbable bonding, McGee's WoW girlfriend, Oldschool NCIS, Palmer is a star, Stan being called Steve, Teal'c and DiNozzo love movies, Ziva being Ziva
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:27:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28226889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefeatedHorizon/pseuds/DefeatedHorizon
Summary: When McGee ends up in a hospital in Colorado on a Saturday evening, it is only the beginning of the strangest case Gibbs's team has ever had to investigate. And just what does the US Air Force have to do with all this?A NCIS/Stargate SG1 crossover that I posted ages ago on FFnet and thought I'd also archive here :)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any TV show (yet); NCIS and Stargate:SG1 belong to the authors and various companies that own them. Please note that I am making absolutely no money with this story. Just showing my love for these two shows. If that's a problem, though, I'll remove this story from the internet on demand.
> 
> Note : This is a crossover between NCIS and Stargate: SG1, but the focus is on NCIS, and you won't really need to be a Stargate fan to understand the story. I'm just going to use one of the devices from this show for my own plot, as well as some military context and a couple of characters. In terms of timeline, we are somewhere in NCIS season 4, and season 3/4 of Stargate SG1 (Key episodes for this story being Point of View and Shades of Grey).
> 
> Obviously, this is an AU story since NCIS is not really sci-fi. My favorite characters are Tim McGee and Gibbs, but though they will play the biggest part in this, this is mainly a team story.
> 
> Last thing: some may have already read this story years ago on FFnet. The story is archived there under the name Defeated Horizon. I confirm that I am the same person!

**Prologue**

The whip slammed loudly, first on the ground, then between the man's legs.

There was a yell, and Tony winced. Though he was not particularly fond of Daniel Craig's impersonation of James Bond, he had to admit that this particular torture scene was one of his favourites in the whole series. Craig was not Sean Connery, but he was good enough to make it sound real.

Another yell from James; another wince from Tony. Geez, that got to hurt.

James Bond started laughing hysterically. "You're losing it, James," whispered Tony. That's when his cellular phone started ringing.

A quick look at the clock above the television told him that it was 3:34 in the morning. He shook his head. "... and so are you, Boss," he thought when he saw the called ID. He paused the DVD player and answered.

"Yes, Boss ? What can I do for you on this auspicious Sunday morning ?"

There was a short pause, enough to make Tony frown. He could hear the sounds of car horns in the background, and guessed that Gibbs was in his car, and that he was driving way too fast.

"Dinozzo, stop that movie and get ready," Gibbs finally said, quietly.

Too quietly.

"... emergency case, Boss?"

_Care to fill me in ?_

"No... yeah. It's McGee. I just got a call from a hospital in Colorado. Apparently, he was shot yesterday."

McGee? Shot? Colorado? That was a lot of information to process, a lot of questions to ask. They all could wait, except one: "... is he okay? "

Another pause.

"That's what I'm going to find out, Dinozzo. All I know so far is that he's still alive."

Tony knew that tone in Gibbs' voice. It was the same he'd had when Kate had died.

Tony closed his eyes, but did not say anything; so Gibbs went on talking: "I'm on my way to the airport, first plane to Denver leaves DC at 04:35. I'll call you when I get to Colorado Springs. In the meantime, you call Ziva and find out what the hell McGee was doing in _Colorado_ for the weekend. I'll call you when I'm there, and you'd better have something by then."

"Got it, Boss," Tony said, slowly but firmly.

"And Tony?"

Yet another silence. God, how Tony hated those.

"Don't call Abby. I'll take care of that."

"Roger that," said Tony, but Gibbs had already hung up.

Tony heaved a deep sigh and stood up from his sofa. The image of James Bond's tormented face was still frozen on the screen. _Sorry James, priority to Probie,_ Tony thought as he switched the television off completely.

He called Ziva as he was getting ready to leave, and less than five minutes after the end of Gibbs' call, both of them were on their way to NCIS.


	2. Chapter 2

The cafeteria of Colorado Springs South Hospital had the worst coffee Gibbs had tasted in a long time, but it was the least of his worries at the moment. When he had first heard that McGee had been shot, he had prepared himself to the worst. Unfortunately, the worst was what had happened. The nurse at the reception desk had not needed to phrase it: from the look on her face when Gibbs had asked for his agent's condition, he had immediately known. He had been too late. Timothy McGee was dead.

It had happened one hour and a half before Gibbs had arrived at the hospital; about twenty minutes after his plane for Colorado Springs had taken off from Denver. The doctors had thought that they had stabilized him, but all of a sudden, Tim had gone into cardiac arrest. They had tried everything to revive him, but to no avail. He was too weak, had lost too much blood from the gunshot.

And now Gibbs was down in the hospital morgue, staring at his body. "It's him," he confirmed, his face unreadable.

The young female doctor who was standing there gave him a small nod. "Agent Gibbs," she said softly. "I am sincerely sorry for the death of your agent."

Gibbs did not reply. His eyes were locked on the corpse in front of him. Tim had died alone.

"Sir, do you know how we can contact Agent McGee's family? You were the only contact we had for him..."

"I'll take care of it," Gibbs assured in a whisper. He briefly closed his eyes, thinking of how he was going to tell McGee's family that their son, their brother had died. Then he thought of his team. Everyone was going to be devastated. This was Kate's death all over again.

But now was not the time for such thoughts. He had work to do. He spoke again, his tone much firmer this time. "I am opening an investigation for the murder of a federal agent. The body will be transferred to our unit in DC; we will fax you all the necessary papers asap."

Ducky would examine Tim's body; and they would catch the bastard who had done this.

The doctor nodded again, and opened the large cupboard that was standing in the corner of the morgue. She took a box from it and handed it to Gibbs. "These... were your agent's personal belongings, " she explained. "There isn't much, but this was all he had on him when he was sent here."

"Thank you," said Gibbs. He opened it and took a quick look at its content. The doctor hadn't lied: there wasn't much in it : just Tim's wallet, his NCIS badge, and his -empty- gun holster. Gibbs closed the box, shook the doctor's hand and walked to the parking. He would take a closer look at Tim's belongings later on. For now, though this was not something he was looking forward to at all, he had a few phone calls to make.

He put the box on the backseat, sat in his car, and allowed himself to take a deep breath. Then he started dialling. The director was currently unavailable - something about an urgent, confidential apparently, but Gibbs' patience had long run out by the time Cynthia had finished her explanation. "Tell her to call me back without fail," he ordered. He did not wait for an answer and hung up furiously. Technically, it was not Jenny's fault. He had not called her before leaving for Colorado this morning, she could not know that something was wrong. But Gibbs was not a patient man, and today was definitely not the day to break rule number 3 - never be unreachable.

It was not the rental car's fault, either, but Gibbs hit its ceiling repeatedly nonetheless in frustration when the Mallard's housekeeper announced that Ducky would not be reachable until noon.

Tony, fortunately for him, was reachable. Gibbs' anger at not being able to talk to Jenny or Ducky quickly dissolved when Tony picked up, replaced with a strange feeling, like a quiet sadness.

"Tony," he said with a very soft voice. "I'm glad to talk to you."

That, Gibbs knew, was enough of a signal for Tony to understand that the situation was serious.

And indeed, Tony got the message. "... what's wrong, boss?" he asked.

"Tim... he did not make it, Tony. He's dead."

None of them spoke for a while. Gibbs ran a hand on his face, giving Tony the time to digest the news. Then, he spoke again: "You still there, Tony ?"

"Yeah, boss."

"Is Ziva with you ?"

"No, she's... she should be on her way to McGee's appartment, trying to find any lead on  
why he was in Colorado this weekend. We... we weren't able to enter in his personal files on his computer yet. We tried, but we couldn't. We probably should wait for Abby to-"

A long, heavy sigh could be heard. Gibbs did not need to see Tony to guess the expression on his face. "Take your time, Tony," he said, feeling strangely out of character, like he hadn't felt in years. Two years, to be precise.

"Yeah... sorry. I just need to- well."

"Just call me as soon as you have something. Tell Ziva. I'll tell Abby. In the meantime, I'm going to find out what happened here... "

"Okay, boss."

With that, Gibbs hung up and threw his phone on the front passenger seat. He squeezed his eyes shut and brought his hand to his forehead.

Why did this have to happen again? Why now?

He drew a deep, long breath and reopened his eyes, repeating to himself the same thing he had been trying to convince himself of earlier. He could grieve later. He had to find the bastard first.

Slowly, he reached for the box with Tim's belongings. He put on some gloves, and started to examine its contents. The NCIS badge did not give him much information, except that Tim was not the kind of person who polished those things often; the badge was slightly damaged, and there were several scratches on the metal. This made Gibbs smile a little. _Could be my badge,_ he thought.

Next was the wallet. There was quite a collection of cards there- several credit cards, driver's license, member cards of various associations such as the Detective Writers' Guild of Eastern Coast, and business cards for various restaurants and for something called the WoW adult guild of DC (sounded suspicious - he would _definitely_ have to check it). There was also a decent amount of cash, a miniature map of Paris' metro lines, but nothing so far that could explain Tim's presence in Colorado.

It was only when he found the photos that Gibbs got confirmation of what his gut was telling him - something was really, really off. There were five photos, each one of them stranger than the last...

Gibbs was in the process of reading the legend behind the third one when his cellphone rang. "Yes, Tony?" he answered.

Tony's voice was weird; he sounded shocked... almost scared. "Boss. I think there is something wrong."

"You _think_ , Tony?"

"I- well, I don't know how to say this but-"

"Just say it!"

"Are you certain that McGee is dead, boss?"

To his own surprise, Gibbs did not find the question as stupid as he probably should have. "I just ID'd his body, Tony," he said, just slightly annoyed. "It was him. Why?"

"Because, boss, McGee just stepped out of the elevator. And if you forget the fact that he's really pissed off that I tried to get access to his personal data, he seems fine to me."


	3. Chapter 3

"He could be a spy, with one of those super-real masks like the ones in _Mission:Impossible_. And at some point, he's gonna peel off his mask, just like in that scene where Phelps reveals that he really is-"

"-he was not wearing a mask," cut Ziva. "Gibbs would have known."

"Well then, I only see one explanation: he's an _android._ "

Ziva rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to McGee, who was sitting in the interrogation room, looking extremely nervous. "How much longer until Gibbs comes back with the corpse?" she asked.

Tony checked his watch. "A little less than two hours now. You think Probie here will survive the wait?"

Ziva tilted her head slightly. "I do not know. It is a pretty bad day for him: first he finds out that you tried hacking into his computer files, then he is taken into custody... Wait till he finds out he was found dead 1500 miles away. It will be the icing on the skate."

"Icing on the _cake_ , Ziva. It doesn't have anything to do with ice skating at all. But yeah, you know, if I was the kind of guy who enjoys seeing Probie being pissed off -which I'm _not_ \- I'd definitely be having fun here. I mean, he hasn't done anything wrong and he ends up locked up in Gibbs' very special little chatroom, while he wait for the guy to come back from Colorado. How lucky is that?"

"Well, I, for one, do perfectly understand why Gibbs ordered us to detain him. Until we have analysed his DNA and the corpse's, we cannot be sure it is the real McGee, after all."

At this precise moment, McGee rose from his chair and approached the window. "Come on, Tony, Ziva, I know you're here," he said in a pleading tone. "At least bring me some files so I can work on them, please? I swear, I'm getting bored out of my mind in here."

Tony grinned at Ziva. "Oh it's him, alright. It's impossible to sound that much like McGeek without being him."

But Ziva remained unconvinced. "In Mossad, we had training for undercover missions that taught us to be able to mimic someone's expressions and personality down to the-"

"-come on, Ziva. You can imitate the looks and the expressions, but you can't copy the brains. He knew I had been hacking into his computer before even I tried to -"

"-could have been another agent who-"

"-Ziva, Ziva, Ziva. This _is_ McGee, ok? I just know it," Tony said seriously.

"Oh yes? Then, how do you explain the fact that Gibbs was so sure that _his_ McGee was the real McGee? I thought that Gibbs was never wrong."

Tony held up his finger. "Except about weddings," he specified.

"Except about weddings. So?"

"Well, there is one explanation." Tony frowned, as if he was in deep thought.

Ziva nodded encouragingly. "Yes?"

"Clones."

Ziva sighed exasperatedly and hit Tony on the back of his head, Gibbs-style. "Idiot."

Another idiotic grin. "What?"

"For a moment, foolishly, I thought that you were serious," said Ziva.

Tony shrugged. "Well, at least _I_ have a theory there. Because, you know what? Gibbs will kill us both if when he arrives we still don't have any clue about what the hell is going on."

Ziva chuckled. "Oh, really, and you think you're going to impress him with a weird science-fiction based explanation? I don't think that Gibbs is into Star Wars, Tony."

Tony considered this for a moment. "You're right. We'd probably better get back to work right now."

And with a quick nod, Ziva followed him back to the squad room, leaving poor McGee to slam his head against the table.

When Gibbs arrived in NCIS, approximately two hours afterwards, he found Ziva and Tony still hard at work. So hard, in fact, that they didn't even notice that he had arrived.

He smirked. Walking behind Tony, he bent and whispered in Tony's ear. "Find anything, Dinozzo?"

The latter nearly jumped from his chair. "B-BOSS!" he exclaimed.

Ziva started slightly, but regained her composure much more rapidly.

"Yes, Dinozzo, it's me. Where is McGee?"

"Interrogation room, boss, as you ordered. Did you bring the corpse?"

Gibbs nodded. "Ducky is working on it as we talk. What do _you_ have for me?"

"Tests on McGee's parents came back positive; they are his biological parents," started Ziva.

"It's also very unlikely that he had a twin. No record at the maternity hospital mentioning a multiple pregnancy... we even got the photos of the ultrasound scan," continued Tony, pointing the ultrasound picture displayed on the screen. "He was definitely the only baby in that womb." he squinted at the picture. "You know, with a head as big as his, I really doubt that two McGees could ever have fitted anyway. You can definitely see that he was predestined to be an MIT-man, can't y- OUCH!"

A slap on his head put an end to Tony's observations. "Anything else?" asked Gibbs. "Anything _useful_?"

Ziva and Tony averted their eyes. "Uhm... nothing, no," admitted Ziva.

"Not _yet_ , boss," clarified Tony. "But of course, we're still searching, and we'll contin-"

But Gibbs was already on his way to interrogation.

Tony shook his head. "I tell you, Ziva, the guy is not human. No human can travel all the way to Colorado and back in a single day and not look the slightest bit tired. McGee may not be an android, but I'm ready to bet that _Gibbs_ is one."

" _Or_ ," mused Ziva, "it is just the caffeine."

The door to the interrogation room was slammed shut, which had the desired effect: Tim woke up with a start. "Boss!" he said, his face a mix of surprise, fear and relief.

Gibbs looked at him intently. With these two piercing blue eyes fixed on him, Tim felt like his boss was trying to see through him. He waited for the questions to come, but they did not; so, after a while, Tim cleared his throat and ventured to ask a question. "Am… am I ever going to get some explanations of why I just spent my entire Sunday in custody?"

Gibbs sat opposite him and rested his hands on the table. "Depends, McGee. Are you going to give me some explanations on why _I_ just spent my entire Sunday travelling to Colorado to ID _your_ dead body?"

Tim raised his eyebrows, startled. "What?"

Gibbs sighed. "I guess Tony and Ziva haven't told you anything then."

"Well, no, they haven't, boss," confirmed Tim. "I just came here this morning after I got an alert that someone from here was trying to enter my personal files-"

Gibbs gave him a strange look, so he quickly added : "I-I placed a tracking program there, just in case…"

Gibbs smiled briefly and gestured him to continue. "And then, just when I found out that it was _Tony_ who had done this, he called you, and before I knew it, I was detained right here..." Tim briefly looked at his watch. "That was over nine hours ago, boss."

Gibbs seemed neither surprised nor sorry. "You have a brother, McGee?"

Once again, Tim did not seem to understand. "Huh... n-no, boss, I only have a sister..." Gibbs eyed him expectantly, and Tim felt complied to be more specific. "Sarah. You met her…"

"Okay, then it means that there is some kind of explanation," said Gibbs. He reached into his pocket and took out the five photographs. He placed the first one on the table and showed it to Tim. "Do you know this woman, McGee?"

Tim took the photo and frowned. It showed a young blonde woman in a cheerleader uniform. "Well, err, yes, I do, but I-"

"-and you two are pretty close, aren't you?" continued Gibbs. He was watching Tim's face closely.

"What? No, no, I- I mean, I did intend to date her at some point, but we never even started - I mean, we were supposed to go together to a Halloween party two years ago, but I had to work on a case and she was furious but... I'm not sure how this is relevant to anything at all, boss... Did- did something bad happen to her? "

"Well, I don't know, McGee. Does marriage count as something bad?" replied Gibbs, showing Tim the second photo.

Tim's eyes widened. The photo showed the woman and him in wedding clothes, kissing. "Whoa, what's - where did you get that, boss?"

"What, you didn't want us to find out that you were married?"

Tim looked even more confused. "This-this isn't me, I swear, boss. I mean, I would remember if I had married someone, wouldn't I?"

Gibbs rolled his eyes, and placed the third photo in front of McGee. "And I suppose you don't remember ever having a daughter, either?"

Tim shook his head in disbelief. "Look, boss, I have no idea what this means, but I swear I've never been married in my life, not to mention have a kid! God, I can't even remember the name of that cheerleader!" He _did_ remember her online username though, and he considered mentioning it to Gibbs, but thought better of it. Instead, he buried his head in his hands, and heaved a deep sigh. "I don't know what else to say, boss. I wish you could believe me..."

To his surprise, Tim felt a hand on his shoulder. "I believe you, Tim", Gibbs whispered softly in his ear.

Tim turned his head towards him, his eyebrows raised. "Y-you do?"

Gibbs smiled. "Yeah, I do. Because," he placed the last two photos on the table, "I would certainly remember it if I had been at your wedding with Tony as your best man, and even more if I was the godfather to your daughter."

Tim frowned. "Then, boss, what is this all about?"

"I have no idea, McGee. But we're going to find out," replied Gibbs as he walked to the door.

"What are you waiting for, McGee?" he asked when Tim didn't move from his chair. "Come on, let's see if Ducky has something to say about that corpse."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to clarify some things : first, the woman on the photos is not someone from Stargate SG1, she is actually someone McGee nearly dated in episode 06 of season 4 (episode "Witch Hunt"). They were supposed to go to a costume party for Hallowe'en, but an investigation came up and McGee had to cancel. Remember? :-)
> 
> Also, since this is going to come up in the story quite soon : the phenomenon that affects Carter's double in Stargate SG1's episode Point of View was due to a decrease in Entropy. Not going to give a lesson in Thermodynamics here, but basically, the idea is that Entropy is a measure of "disorder". One of the fundamental laws of Thermodynamics (called the second principle) is that Entropy is spontaneously increasing in a system. So the fact that there are two Carters in the same universe means that there is "too much order", thus a decrease in Entropy... which has the dangerous consequences we observed in Point of View on the Carter from the other universe. This explanation is really really lacking precision and would probably make any Physics teacher jump... but I just need the basic concept for the story. We're going to see something like that happen soon so... that was the annoying scientific note :P

"I must say, this is the first time that I have someone be an assistant to their own autopsy," said Ducky pensively as he took his scalpel and started making an incision on the torso of McGee's lookalike.

Truth be told, Tim was not, technically, assisting much; he was not doing anything except staring at the body lying on the autopsy table. His body. He found himself hardly able to listen as Ducky continued his meandering.

"I did, though, know a Professor in Glasgow who had insisted on conducting himself the Autopsy of his own twin brother, who had been found dead in rather tragic circumstances. It is a rather interesting story, in fact. It appears that the murder had been perpetrated by the twin's own daughter, who -"

"Did you get anything from the preliminary examination, Duck?" cut Gibbs, shaking his head in disbelief at the sight of the body. He seemed to be as confused as McGee... and that was a rare sight.

"Well, there is not much I can say for now, beyond the fact that I can confirm the report provided by the hospital in Colorado Springs. This young man died after a cardiac arrest which was, indeed, caused by internal bleeding in multiple places, which, in turn, were cause by gunwounds. What is interesting, though, is the gunwound itself." He removed part of the white sheet that was covering the lower part of the torso, revealing a large, round-shaped wound in the middle of the stomach. Several rings of burnt skin could be seen around the wound. The sight made Tim slightly uncomfortable.

"Have you ever seen something like that, Jethro ?" asked Ducky.

Gibbs bent over the dead man's chest to examine the wound and frowned. "No... The wound looks more like a contact burn... but at the same time, it looks like it was fired from a weapon. Do you have an idea of what caused this, Duck?"

"Unfortunately, none, Jethro. We will have to wait for Abigail's analyses..."

At the mention of Abby, Tim started, as if he had just realized something important. "Does Abby know about my d- about this?" he asked Gibbs.

Gibbs did not have the time to reply, for Tony and Ziva arrived at that moment. They both stopped in their tracks when they caught a glimpse of the body lying on the table.

"Oh wow," exclaimed Tony, shaking his head as though it would help him back to reality. "This is really true, then. Attack of the Clones, McGee version. It's-"

"What do you have, DiNozzo?" cut Gibbs. He sounded slightly tired - but not as much as one should be after travelling from Washington to Colorado and back in one day.

"The Redskins Cheerleader McGee nearly dated a couple of years ago goes by the name of Sharon Francez; and I'll have you know, Probie, that she is now following a brilliant career at KFC, over on the campus of Georgetown. I got her address, and - "

"-and?"

Tony gave him a slightly nervous smile. "and I'm on my way to her place right now to talk to her."

"Too right you are, DiNozzo. Ziva, what did you find?" Gibbs asked as Tony left.

"The house where McG- where the victim was found belonged to a former Marine Colonel, Colonel Robert Makepeace," she announced, giving the file of the man to Gibbs.

" _former_?" asked McGee.

Ziva nodded. "Yes, it appears that he was recently charged with high treason against the United States. The exact details for the treason are -"

"- top secret," read Gibbs from the file. "He was working with the Air Force at Cheyenne Mountain until he was arrested in March."

"Yes," confirmed Ziva. "And since then, his files mentions that he is in prison, but apparently, we do not have clearance to know where or why."

Gibbs looked at the file for another minute, then he handed it back to Ziva. "Continue looking into this guy's file. A guy looking exactly like McGee, and carrying an NCIS badge, is found dying at a former Marine's house... you know how I feel about coincidences. I'll talk to the Director about the clearance..."

"On it," said Ziva, and she headed for the elevator.

Once she had left, Gibbs turned towards McGee. "To answer your previous question, McGee, no, Abby doesn't know about this yet, I told her to wait for us in her lab. I think it's probably better if you go and explain the situation to her directly and-"

He stopped mid-sentence, as something very strange started to happen to the body on the table. Ducky and McGee were both staring too. It was something so strange that it was hardly describable, something that none of them had ever seen before. It looked as if waves were emanating from the body and as though another body was going to emerge from those waves. Whatever it was, it was not a pleasant sight, and the three men witnessing the phenomenon all winced accordingly.

Gibbs was, unsurprisingly, the first to recover from his shock. "Duck, what in the name of God was that about?" he asked.

Ducky just shook his head. For once, he was completely speechless.

Gibbs looked at McGee, who seemed to be stuck in a gaping mode himself.

"Alright. This thing is getting stranger and stranger every second." he said. He placed a hand on McGee's arm, which had the effect of shaking the younger agent from his temporary semi-stupor. "Come on McGee, let's go to Abby's lab."

"Wait, Jethro," called Ducky before they both left Autopsy. "If you are going to visit Abigail, why don't you bring her these samples I took from the body of - of our young friend there," he said, handing them a box labeled "evidence". Gibbs signed the forms and took a look at the box.

"There are samples of skin and hair, as well as the photographs Mister Palmer took of the mysterious wound. " explained Ducky, who, Gibbs noted, had recovered his speech quite quickly, "It is not much, but maybe she can start with this. We will get the autopsy done as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Duck," said Gibbs as he led a still very pale McGee to the elevator.


	5. Chapter 5

The sun was about to rise over the city of Washington when Gibbs left Tim and Abby in the lab and joined his other two agents in the squad room.

"DiNozzo!" he shouted.

Tony, who had dozed off on his chair at an undetermined point in the (early) morning, immediately started awake. As a result, the pile of files which all this time, had been challenging the laws of gravity by staying on his desk finally gave in and met their fate. Tony's eyes travelled down to the floor, where they had just fallen, then back up from their landing point (which also happened to be Gibbs's feet) directly into his boss's eyes. "Ah, good morning, Boss," he said, quickly straightening his clothes. "I was just-"

"-snoring like a broken coffee machine," completed Ziva from behind her desk.

Gibbs smirked. "You two have anything new since the last time I saw you?"

Tony, fully awake now, spoke first. "The cheerleader - Sharon Francez - was more than surprised to hear about McGee again. I talked to her yesterday evening. She confirms that she has not spoken to him since they cancelled that Hallowe'en date." He paused, grinning broadly. "Quite frankly, I don't really think it could have gotten any further anyway between them. I mean, boss, you should see her, she's way out of McGee's league, and it's -"

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "Anything else? Ziva?" he cut Gibbs before Tony had the time to further elaborate on his experience of women and on his opinion of what was in McGee's league.

Ziva cleared her throat. "Colonel Makepeace appears to have completely disappeared from the face of the earth," she began. Gibbs sighed, but she quickly added: "But, I found something. While I was looking for information on his transfer, I came across this order of transfer." She showed a scan of a signed letter on the screen. "At first, I thought it was a prison transfer for him, but it turned out it was a transfer order for his possessions. Apparently, everything that was in his house was shipped out to Area 51..."

"So he stole something. Something highly classified," deducted Gibbs, frowning. "Ziva, I suppose we can't access to any detail on what was transferred?"

"Well, we don't have the clearance, but -" Ziva pursed her lips slightly. "Perhaps McGee could-"

Gibbs had head-slapped her before she could even finish. "Hey, what was that for?" she protested.

"Saying something like that out loud," Gibbs replied, half-smiling nonetheless.

"Where is McGee anyway?" asked Tony suddenly. "Is he okay?"

Gibbs chuckled. "Oh yeah, he is. He's at Abby's lab. Tell him to come over here right away. See if he can do something about the classified US Air Force files. I'll be at the Director's office."

"Didn't he just say that he didn't want us to hack into those files?" commented Ziva once Gibbs had left.

Tony answered by putting a finger in front of his mouth. Ziva shook her head and called the lab to get McGee.

A few minutes later, McGee was in the squad room. He looked positively exhausted.

"Guys, what's the emergency?" he asked tiredly.

Ziva eyed him worriedly. "What happened to you McGee? You are as white as a sheep."

"Sheet, Ziva." corrected Tony, who quickly examined McGee's face before announcing his diagnosis. "Abby?"

McGee simply heaved a deep sigh in reply.

"I take it that she didn't take the news of your 'death' too well then?" enquired Ziva.

McGee let out a small laugh. "Depends what part you're talking about. The part where there is a corpse looking like me down in Autopsy actually had her sort of excited."

Tony took his chin in his hand. "Hmm, so she has a theory. What is it? Clones? Aliens? Robots?"

Mc Gee was not in the mood to give more details. "Something like that, yeah," he simply said.

"Then what was the problem?" wondered Ziva. "I mean, beside the fact that she is going to ask us all for irrelevant details during the investigation so she can feed her own theories."

That gained another sigh from McGee. "Yeah, there is that. But mostly… well. Gibbs showed her the pictures. And, I think she'll never stop to lecture me for marrying a cheerleader."

Ziva winced in sympathy. "Ouch."

Tony, on the other hand, frowned. "I don't understand. What's wrong with marrying a cheerleader? I dated at least half a dozen cheerleaders before, and -"

McGee ignored him and continued his complaining. "And for once, it's not even my fault! I mean, I did not even start dating that cheerleader. Just because there's this guy who looks like me -"

"-and has the same DNA. And carries your ID papers."

"And the badge, don't forget the badge, Ziva."

McGee looked increasingly depressed. "Why, thanks for the support, guys. As usual," he commented bitterly. He sat at his desk and rested a hand on his forehead.

Ziva walked to his desk. "Sorry, McGee," she said softly.

"Yeah, Probie. We realize it must be kind of weird for you."

When McGee opened his mouth to reply, all he could achieve was a deep yawn, which caused Tony, who was looking at him, to yawn in turn. Ziva quickly followed. It had been almost twenty-four hours since this strange case had started, and none of them had had the chance to sleep properly since. They were all completely exhausted.

Suddenly however, Ziva straightened. A sign that both McGee and Tony immediately recognized: Gibbs was around. "So, McGee!" she exclaimed, a bit too enthusiastically. "As we were saying, perhaps you could find a way to get access to those files and-"

"- not necessary anymore, Ziva," said Gibbs as he walked to his desk. "Air Force is sending some guys from Cheyenne Mountain to 'help us with the investigation'. They'll be here at the beginning of the afternoon," he explained, opening his drawer. He took his sig and his badge and slammed the drawer shut. "You all go home and catch a few hours of sleep. Be here at 10:00, fresh and ready to make sure we have copies of every piece of evidence these Air Force guys will want their hands on."

"Yes boss!" Tony, Ziva and McGee replied all in unison. Less than five minutes later, they were all gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Two o'clock found Gibbs's entire team in Director Shepard's office. The team sent by the Air Force - _SG-1_ , as they had called themselves - was, if anything, atypical. Their leader, Colonel Jack O'Neill (" _two 'L's_ ", he had insisted), was a man around Gibbs' age with an unusually laid-back attitude for a man in his position. His second-in-command was Major Samantha Carter, a rather impressive woman - both physically and, from what Gibbs could tell so far, intellectually. Then there were the two _civilian consultants_. A doctor Jackson, who looked nothing like a military guy, and another guy introduced to them as _Mister Murray_ , who was a mountain of muscles and apparently did never leave his hat, even when inside the office of the Director of NCIS.

The four of them formed a curious mix, one that even Gibbs had trouble figuring out completely. Just as he had trouble figuring out what they had been talking about for about half an hour now to explain what they thought had happened back at Colonel Makepeace's house. " _They_ " being essentially Major Carter, although there were occasional interruptions from Doctor Jackson. What Gibbs understood was that ther was something about top-secret tests and laws of scientific disciplines he personally had never heard about - not even in Abby's lab, as far as he could remember anyway. In essence, there was this theory that had been applied to develop some classified technology gizmos; the Air Force and the Navy had conducted a joint classified research project; Colonel Makepeace -this was classified- had stolen (classified) things from the classified project; they had arrested him and gotten back the classified gizmos. Or so they thought... apparently he had left one behind, which explained the whole McGee-clone-apparition in his house. And oh yeah, it was all classified. Confidential. Top-secret. Bla, bla, bla.

And now the Major was giving this nice cover story a little scientific background, probably hoping to drown them all.

And she was almost successful, as a quick look at the rest of the group revealed: Jenny had her serious face, pretending to be listening (but she could never fool him with that expression); Ziva was frowning hard, trying to focus on the report and failing; Tony was not concentrating on the speech but on the speaker (or, more precisely, on the speaker's _legs_ ). Only problem in this plan, McGee -

McGee, who was listening intently, his eyes showing a fascination that was almost funny.

Gibbs resisted the urge to smile triumphantly when his own personal science genius gently interrupted, wondering if he could ask a question. Gibbs had no idea of what exactly McGee had asked, but he could tell that his youngest agent did not buy the Major's explanation either. As for Carter, she was good at this, Gibbs noted. She had only appeared slightly taken aback by the precision of the question. Her small hesitation before she replied to McGee would have gone unnoticed to most people, but it had spoken volumes to a trained investigator like Gibbs (and, he was pleased to say, to his senior agent as well, since Tony's glance had suddenly shifted from the legs to the eyes of the Major).

This gave Gibbs the confirmation of what he had been feeling ever since the meeting had started : everything they had been told so far was b.s. and nothing more.

O'Neill surprised them all by interrupting the Major at that point, acting like he was about to put them all out of this over-technical misery. Gibbs raised an eyebrow: he had not expected the Colonel to be this subtle. Now he understood what O'Neill was doing in the team.

"Carter," the Colonel said, "As fascinating as this is, I am sure that you and Special Agent Mac- umm-"

"-McGee, Sir."

"Special Agent _McGee_ can discuss the technical subtleties later - as long as it is not confidential information, of course. Daniel ?"

Doctor Jackson cleared his throat. "Um, yes. The... reason we have been sent here is to ask for your cooperation regarding this case. We are fully aware that this is not Air Force jurisdiction but it is important, for reasons of security, that we take part in the investigation."

"Of course," Jenny replied. "You will have full access to the investigation reports and conclusions, as well as the evidence -"

Jackson smiled politely, but Gibbs could tell that they had been expecting that exact reaction. "With all due respect, Director Shepard, by 'taking part' I meant a little more than that. I meant-"

"Yeah, he meant that we actually _be a part_ of this, " cut O'Neill. "As in, we work with your team on this."

Jenny pursed her lips and gave Gibbs a worried glance. A look that said, _"I bet you're not going to like that, Jethro, but I have no choice"_. He surprised her (and, from what he could tell, the rest of his team) by simply nodding in agreement. "Sure. I have no problem with that, Colonel O'Neill. As long as we agree that my team is leading the investigation and you guys are just helping."

O'Neill raised his hands slightly. "Sounds fair."

"Director?" Gibbs said. He knew he would have her agreement on that, but they had to play the game until the end.

"I agree," replied Jenny. She then turned towards DiNozzo, David and McGee and dismissed them: "Thank you, special agents DiNozzo and McGee, Officer David. Special Agent Gibbs will let you in on the details of our cooperation."

The three of them nodded and rose from their chair. Gibbs smiled to himself when he saw the look in DiNozzo's eyes before he closed the door behind them. He would do what was necessary.

Tony spoke as soon as they were out of Cynthia's office. He knew that they did not have much time. "Guys, fancy a campfire?"

"I am tired," said Ziva, as though she hadn't heard him. "Let's take the elevator."

"I agree," said McGee.

Tony smiled.

Once in the elevator, Ziva flipped the switch.

"All right, I suppose you both understood what this was all about," Tony began.

McGee chuckled. "A whole lot of crap," he replied. "Nicely and cleverly thought-up crap, but crap nonetheless."

"A brilliant cover story," added Ziva, nodding. "Major Carter was good, but I could nonetheless tell she was lying."

"I know! I'm no specialist of quantum physics, but what I know for sure is that there is no way they could power such a machine with our current knowledge of generators. This is science-fiction, pure and simple! Just to restore entropy you would need-"

"-all right, all right. I just wanted to make sure that we all got it. We don't have much time," cut Tony. "They're hiding something, and we have to find out what. You know why Gibbs agreed to cooperate."

Ziva smiled. "So we can keep an eye on them."

"So what do we do?" asked McGee.

"Well, quite simple. They're four, and so are we."

"Gibbs will want to follow the Colonel," stated Ziva.

"Exactly. McGee- it pains me to say this, because she's really hot, but you're going to be in charge of the chi-"

Ziva had taken a step towards Tony, who suddenly felt oppressed.

"- I mean, the _woman_. You're probably the only one who can get what she's talking about and judge if it makes any sense."

McGee nodded, and Tony couldn't help noticing the slight blush on his face. "Ok. Ziva, that doctor Jackson seems to know a hell of a lot more than he tells. Think you can work your little ninja-spy interrogating magic on him and figure out what he knows?"

Ziva let out a small laugh. "I can. I will."

Tony felt that he needed to make a clarification. "Don't kill him, 're not enemies, just secretive... people."

"I was not planning on killing him, Tony. There are lots of other ways to extract information, you know." The expression on her face when she said that sent chills down Tony's spine.

"Ok, fine. I'll be in charge of that Murray guy. He's suspicious. "

"Has not said a word or moved a muscle through the whole meeting," agreed Ziva.

"Well, that, but most importantly, who still wears that kind of hats nowadays? Hello, this is not 1953 anymore!" commented Tony.

Both McGee and Ziva rolled their eyes at that.

"Ok. We don't have much time left, and we need a plan. We have two things to discuss. First, we need to find a way to share our information. They're going to be keeping an eye on us just as much as we keep an eye on them."

"E-mail is the safest," said McGee thoughtfully. "I can give you a small coding program so we can exchange encrypted information without them knowing."

"No way. It would take too much time. Besides, do you really think that Gibbs will know how to use an e-mail?" remarked Tony.

Ziva and McGee could not disagree with that.

"I have an idea, actually..." said Tony, grinning. It did not take more than a minute for him to explain it.

Once they had all agreed, Tony flipped the switch again.

"Umm Tony?"

"Yes, McSci-Fi?"

"Wasn't there another thing we needed to discuss? You said there were two."

Tony clasped his hands. "Too right you are, Probie! I nearly forgot!"

"Shall I block the elevator again? We are almost there," said Ziva.

"No need. This is not really confidential," assured Tony. They walked out of the elevator and into the squad room.

"What was it, then?"

"Patience, patience, Probie! Here it is." He got closer to Ziva and McGee and whispered conspiratorially. "These guys have a _team name_ \- SG-1, sounds pretty cool. So... what should _ours_ be? I propose... The G-team. Like the A-Team, but with 'G' for Gibbs-"

A head-slap put a premature end to this conversation and signalled that the head of the 'G-Team' had arrived.

"I take it you've had the time to discuss a plan, Mister T. We have two minutes before Jenny and the Air Force guys arrive, so you'd better start explaining now," he said.

"Yes boss. See, it is pretty simple..."


	7. Chapter 7

From his car, Gibbs could see the Colonel standing at the counter of the grocery shop. He had started by leafing through a couple of magazines; then he had bought one - was that _National Geographics_? - and had left - _almost_. But he had obviously changed his mind right away, for he had gone back inside. He had grabbed a pack of beer there, and resumed chatting with the shop owner.

Gibbs looked at his watch and rolled his eyes. It had been twenty minutes already. He could tell exactly what O'Neill was doing, and he could tell that O'Neill knew he knew. Which was why Gibbs did not move, only chuckled, when O'Neill finally left the shop and headed, not for his own car but Gibbs's. There was a knock on the windshield; and Gibbs lowered the window.

"Hey, special agent Gibbs," he said, giving him a strange kind of salute that reminded Gibbs of a mime wiping an imaginary window.

"Colonel O'Neill."

O'Neill lifted his other hand, showing the pack of beer he had just bought. "I was thinking... since we're both obviously keeping an eye on the other, maybe we could go somewhere cosier than a car? Though yours is kind of cool, but mine... well, it's a rental. You know what I mean."

Gibbs couldn't help grinning at that. "I think I know just the place, Colonel."

"It's Jack."

"Jethro."

"Ok, so, Jethro... I follow you to that mystery place of yours?"

Gibbs nodded. He waited for O'Neill to reach his car, then shook his head, amused. He was actually starting to like the colonel.

They had not been very far from Gibbs's house; so it was less than fifteen minutes before they found themselves in the basement, both standing, beer in hand, around the boat-in-progress .

O'Neill examined the boat and ran his hand on the wooden structure for a moment. "So, this is what Marines do in their free time? Build boats? "

"You background-checked me, Jack?" It was not a question.

O'Neill shrugged. "Not just you. Your entire team. You don't seem to be surprised."

"No, I'm not, I'd have done the same thing if I'd had the time," replied Gibbs. "How much do you know?"

O'Neill took a sip of his beer. "Enough to understand why you build boats alone in your basement and offer my condolences for your loss."

Gibbs closed his eyes briefly; he heaved a sigh, then drank a large gulp in silence.

Since he was not showing any sign of wanting to speak, O'Neill continued. "You know, I retired once, too. I still wonder why I came back, sometimes. I could be fishing at the lake right now instead of doing this. I'd have a boat, too - though I'd buy mine."

"And I'd call it the _Homer_ ," he added, moving his hands to mime the inscription. He paused, looking at Gibbs's puzzled expression and raising an eyebrow. "After Homer Simpson? What, you never watch TV?"

Gibbs frowned, but didn't reply. Jack was definitely not your average Air Force Colonel.

"What happened?" Gibbs asked at last, leaning slightly on the workbench. "Why did you retire?"

O'Neill took a slow breath. "My kid, Charlie, shot himself with my handgun. I could not do this anymore."

"I'm sorry," Gibbs said, softly.

"Yeah." O'Neill said distractedly. He began to toy with his empty beer bottle.

"Why did you come back?"

O'Neill tilted his head to the side. "As I said, I'm not really sure."

Gibbs nodded in understanding. "Classified, huh? Alright, I won't ask."

There was a long moment of silence between the two men, each lost in their own thoughts.

At last, Gibbs heaved a deep sigh. "Alright, Jack. We've covered the part where we open up to each other and sympathize and bond. Now, will you tell me anything at all about why your team is really here, or will we have to braid each other's hair first?"

O'Neill headed for the opened pack of beer. "Well, first, I gotta say, another beer wouldn't hurt. But to answer the serious part, well. All I can say, Jethro, is that we've been sent here as much to watch you guys as to help with the investigation."

"Yeah I'd figured as much, Jack," said Gibbs as he caught the bottle of beer that O'Neill threw in his direction. "What can you tell me that can be useful?"

O'Neill winced slightly.

"Look, Jack. I work with the Navy of the United States. I know the meaning of 'confidential'. I don't need to know everything. I just want to solve the damn case. Catch the bastard who killed my agent and make him pay for what he did. That's all I ask. What I _don't_ need is the Air Force trying to intervene in my investigation by making up some kind of fancy high-tech cover story."

"Technically, that wasn't really your agent, Jethro," said O'Neill slowly.

"Yeah, well real or not, seeing the body at the funerarium gave me a very real urge to catch the bastard."

"I know the feeling, believe me."

Gibbs's bottle made a banging noise as it landed less than delicately on the workbench. "Yeah? And what else do you know, Jack?"

O'Neill closed his eyes and raised his gaze to look into Gibbs's eyes. "That this is much, much bigger than you can imagine; and this is why we're watching you."

Gibbs kicked the boat angrily. "Damn it, Jack! How long are you going to beat around the bush!"

"Hey!" said O'Neill, raising his arms. "What else do you expect me to say! I'm not gonna reveal you top-secret information just because we shared a couple of beers! The Air Force doesn't share its intel with federal agencies freely, you know that as well as I do. Especially to you people! You have a Mossad Officer in your team, for crying out loud! Do you realize what kind of a leak that would make?"

"I just told you, I don't give a damn about the secret research projects, I just want a lead to find the guy who killed - whoever that kid who looked like McGee was. If you weren't willing to say anything anyway, why the heck did you come down here? "

"I told you what I had to tell you already, Jethro," said O'Neill seriously.

"What do you-" Gibbs paused as realization struck him. "You said that you're watching us. Does this mean that my team is in any kind of danger?"

"I don't know," admitted O'Neill. "Could be."

"Why haven't you told us about it during that meeting at the Director's office."

O'Neill had both his empty beer bottles in his hands and was making loops as though they were aircrafts. "I'm in the military, Jethro. I got orders to follow."

"And why now?"

"I'm not really good with this thing but - well," began O'Neill, walking to the workbench and placing his bottles next to Gibbs's. "Call it a-"

"Gut feeling?" completed Gibbs, smirking.

"Something like that, yeah," said O'Neill as he walked back to the boat. "Look, if you want to warn your guys, you have to be really careful. Do you have any way of contacting them? Apart from the usual ways."

"You mean, without raising suspicions from a potential third party?"

O'Neill nodded, and an amused smile appeared on Gibbs's face. "Oh yeah. We got the DiNozzo-network."

O'Neill raised an eyebrow. "The what?"

"I got it covered. Tell me now, what kind of pizza do you like, Jack?"

After ordering the pizzas, Gibbs grabbed his wallet, took out a one-dollar bill and used it cut a piece of paper the same size. Then he started writing on it and smiled at a puzzled Jack. "That's the G-Team for you," commented Gibbs matter-of-factly.

Less than ten minutes later, a knock at the door to Gibbs's house announced a familiar face.

"Two Chili Special pizzas!" announced the delivery boy.

Gibbs smiled. Palmer was actually quite good at this. "Thank you," he said as he took the receipt from the "delivery boy". "I believe that Mister T. did not get ice cream with his order," he added in a lower tone.

"Oh." said Palmer, fidgeting slightly as he took in what came with the money Gibbs was giving him in return.

"Hey," called Gibbs as he realized that Palmer was glancing curiously at O'Neill.

Palmer started slightly. "Uh, N-nice boots, sir," he told O'Neill, who arched his eyebrows in return.

Gibbs resisted the urge to smack Palmer behind the head for that; but he figured the boy was just nervous about his first ever "undercover" job. "Good job," he said, instead.

"Thank you sir. Enjoy your pizza. "

When he left, Gibbs gave the pizzas to O'Neill while he opened the receipt and read its contents. "So," he said, squinting on the ticket. "Your Murray is apparently a Star Wars fan? He's taken a ticket for the whole Trilogy tonight. As for Jackson, he seems to really know his way around the DC museums. Hmm, and Carter likes McGee's Porsche a lot."

Gibbs handed the receipt to O'Neill. "Bottom line is, they haven't noticed anything so far. DiNozzo will be warned soon enough, though."

O'Neill's eyes widened slightly as he understood what had just happened. "Was that delivery boy part of..."

"He's the assistant to our ME," confirmed Gibbs. "You know how it is. Budget restrictions; our employees have to work two jobs to make ends meet these days... "

O'Neill chuckled. "That's actually kinda clever. As in, it's dumb enough for people watching you guys not to think about it."

"Huh-huh." Gibbs took a slice of pizza and stuffed it in his mouth with a smile. "That's what I pay DiNozzo for. Coming up with the dumbest plans."

"Funny. I've heard that kind of thing before, though in a completely different context."

"Confidential, I presume?"

O'Neill shrugged. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you that it came from a race of grey aliens who named a spaceship after me, right?"

Gibbs pointedly rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, thought so." said O'Neill, letting out a small laugh as he grabbed another slice of pizza.

Gibbs had a weird feeling about that conversation, but he couldn't place it, so he just shook his head. "Okay, so what do we do next, Jack?"

"Well-"

He was interrupted by the ring of Gibbs's cell. Gibbs looked at the caller ID and frowned. What was the point of having set up this whole pizza code if McGee called him on the phone right afterwards?

His gut told him to answer anyway, so he picked up. "Yeah, Gibbs."

The voice on the other end of the phone was very, very weak. " _Boss_ "...

The gut feeling turned into sudden concern at the sound. "McGee, what's going on, I can barely hear you."

" _Boss, I think I was shot... I- I'm not feeling too well..._ "

Gibbs's slice of pizza fell to the floor as the connection died.


	8. Chapter 8

"Damnit!" said Gibbs as the connection died. He did not waste another second, and grabbed his car keys, ready to drive to where McGee was.

He was surprised to find O'Neill in his way, blocking the way to the stairs. "What the hell are you doing, Jack? McGee thinks he has been shot, this is not the time for-"

But Jack shook his head. "Your agent will be alright. I'm sorry Jethro, but we have to stay here for now. Don't worry, everything is fine."

Gibbs was furious, and not trying to hide it. "Just let me the hell out of here or I swear I will -"

O'Neill winced. Of course, in Gibbs's situation, he would have reacted exactly in the same manner. "Look, just trust me on this, okay? Your agent said he _thought_ he had been shot, right?"

"Yes, and so what? I'm not going to take a chance and let him bleed to death -" Gibbs raised an eyebrow as O'Neill took a strange device from his bag and showed it to him. "What the hell is this thing?"

"It's called a ZAT gun," said O'Neill, calmly. "It shoots electromagnetic blasts - first shoot stuns, second kills. This is what happened to McGee," he said, demonstrating the blast on a toolbox nearby. A sort of blue electrical chord seemed to coat the box for a moment, then it faded away, leaving the box intact.

Without a word, Gibbs took the gun from O'Neill's hand and examined the object and its strange, snake-shaped design. "What is this, some sort of experimental weapon?"

O'Neill shrugged. "You could say that. "

"And how can you be so sure that this is what McGee was shot with? And that he wasn't shot twice, for that matter?"

"Because I know the people who used it, and while I did not expect them to shoot him like that -and I'm sorry about it, really – I know that they did not want to kill him. Also, because Carter is following them as we speak and making sure McGee is okay."

As expected, Gibbs was not happy with that answer. At all. He took a step forward; so his face was practically touching O'Neill's. The latter did not move an inch. "Are you telling me that you deliberately put my agent in danger?" Gibbs asked coldly. He continued to stare at O'Neill, not blinking once.

The Air Force colonel was not blinking, either. "I fully trust Major Carter with her mission, and I do not think that your agent is in any kind of danger, as long as she is watching his back," he replied on a tone that showed he was not scared of Gibbs.

Not that Gibbs was scared of O'Neill, either. His eyes were shooting daggers. "You have two minutes to explain to me what kind of game the US Air Force is playing at the expense of the safety of NCIS agents."

O'Neill relaxed his position, and heaved a sigh. "For the record, it was not my idea, and I've expressed my disagreement. But an order is an order. You know the military."

Gibbs frowned, but did not interrupt the colonel.

"Can I at least explain myself before you glare at me to death ?" asked O'Neill.

A brief nod from Gibbs was the only reply he received. The look on the ex-Marine's face showed that his patience was wearing thin and that the other man had better start explaining quickly.

O'Neill obliged. "As we told you yesterday, a few months ago, we arrested for high treason a group of a dozen of people - Marines, Air Force officers, even civilians. Colonel Makepeace was a member of this cell. They had stolen very… sensitive technology, such as the device that caused the appearance of that 'other agent McGee' you saw the other day."

"Yeah, that's what you told us already, Jack."

"The thing is, we were led to believe that we had not arrested everyone in that cell. In the past month, we've had proof that the cell was still active, and we needed to identify its remaining members quickly."

"So, what… you decided to use us as _bait_?"

O'Neill winced at that. "It's a bit more sophisticated than that, but huh… in essence,… yeah."

"Again," he quickly added, "the idea isn't mine, and the order comes from way above me in the chain of command. For reasons I am not at liberty to discuss with you, this is a matter of national security. Or maybe even of… world security."

Gibbs's fists were clenched. He did not like where this was going, he felt manipulated. "What exactly was - or is- the plan?"

"Well, ten days ago, we got a signal of human activity from the zone in Area 51 where we had stored all the devices we had retrieved from the cell. At first we thought there were intruders, but when we went to check, the only thing we found was… a body. A man, who had just died there from his injuries, but had lived long enough to set the alarm, apparently. We autopsied the man and found he was an NCIS agent who went by the name of Timothy McGee. After a quick check, we learned that agent McGee was alive and well here in DC. Based on our experience with alternate realities -" He raised a hand to stop Gibbs's protests "- yeah, I know," he said, "it sounds nuts, but just bear with me, okay?"

Gibbs rolled his eyes, but let him continue.

"- based on our experience, we understood that this was not the McGee from this reality, but one who had come here from elsewhere through one of the devices we had stored in area 51. Because, yes, as crazy as it may sound, the alternate reality thing that Carter was explaining to you yesterday is really true..."

"So this means that the corpse I identified at the hospital in Colorado Springs wasn't the first McGee look-alike?" asked Gibbs.

O'Neill shook his head. "No, he wasn't. Actually, in the last ten days, we've had something like nine versions of agent McGee coming from the device, all dying from their injuries… " At this, both O'Neill and Gibbs exchanged a grimace of discomfort.

"Carter analyzed the device. We knew the basics of the technology it used, but not this device in particular. It seemed they had - well, they had obtained it elsewhere." The vagueness of the explanation did not escape Gibbs, but he decided to keep his questions for later.

"Her conclusions," O'Neill went on, "were that the device we had in Area 51 was not complete. According to her, what we have there is only an 'exit' device. Meaning it was not the thing that caused the McGees to arrive in our reality, it was just the… exit door. So she thought that there must be an "entrance door" somewhere, which the McGees used to travel to this reality. One of the McGees that arrived through the device told us -before he died- that he had been searching Colonel Makepeace's house for an investigation before he suddenly finding himself here, so we assumed that the 'entrance' part of the device was still at the Colonel's place, and that all of the McGees we'd met had ended up activating it by accident."

Gibbs was starting to show signs of a headache, born from extreme confusion… and, as a matter of fact, so did colonel O'Neill.

"… anyway, we went to check Makepeace's old place, but we didn't find any device. However, we found something else there… evidence that this was part of an ongoing research program."

Gibbs was becoming tenser as O'Neill's story progressed.

"And that whatever is left of the cell has the 'entry' device, and is using it, probably to develop some nasty weapons…"

"And that's why you needed some way to let these guys out of their burrow," completed Gibbs. It was not a question. While he did not have enough information to understand the stakes of this mission, or the precise origin of the technology, he could recognize a high-priority security mission when he saw one. After all, he had taken part in his share of such missions in the past.

O'Neill nodded. "We had to act quickly, arrest these guys at all costs. Most of all, we had to find their lab, retrieve the other device and end their research. So we set up a trap, using you guys."

Gibbs seemed to be two seconds away from jumping at O'Neill's throat, but the colonel still went on. "Again, not my idea," O'Neill added. "We planted the 'exit' device at Makepeace's house. When another injured McGee emerged, we were supposed to 'anonymously' call the hospital, who would call you. And then we knew that your investigation would trigger some alarms in the cell's systems, which would eventually lead them to you. If they really were researching on that device, they would have to approach you. That's why we came here. "

"So basically, you're telling me that you knew they were going to take McGee, and led them to do so? Are the lives of NCIS agents that expendable to the Air Force? "

O'Neill knew how Gibbs felt. He would never have accepted that his team be used in such a way.

"First of all, the Director agreed with that plan," he said, but it did not seem to calm the ex-Marine in any way. Which, again, was understandable to O'Neill. "Also, we weren't sure what move they would make. This was one of the possibilities. One of the most likely, in fact, considering the fact that the corpse at Makepeace's house was a version of McGee."

"And how can you be sure that they haven't noticed that Carter was following McGee?"

"Because Carter was also watching the guys we were suspecting."

"You know who they are?"

"We had suspicions. We needed confirmation, and we needed them to lead us to wherever their base is. In other words, we needed them to make one false step – and now they did."

His phone rang at that moment, and he answered it. "Yes, Carter? Yes, I'm with him. How is he? Okay, good job, Major. Yes, we're coming."

"She has found their base and arrested them," O'Neill explained, a hint of pride in his tone. "McGee's with her. He's fine."

He turned around and started to walk up the stairs. When Gibbs didn't follow, he stopped and rolled his eyes. "Oh for crying out loud, are you brooding or what? Your boy is fine, Jethro, I promise. Come on, there is something else we'd like you to help us with. See, there is another reason why we really need to find the other part of the device…"

As Gibbs followed him to the car, he rubbed his temples, feeling very tired. This day had been very, very long one… and it looked like it was not over yet.


	9. Chapter 9

"So, Probie, now you let the ladies rescue you?" exclaimed Tony as he entered the experimental facility where McGee had been taken by his kidnappers. Both McGee and Major Carter answered him with dark glares, before getting back to examining the various devices that had been at use in the clandestine laboratory.

As for Gibbs, who had just got here as well, he gave him a slap in the back of the head. "Why don't you leave McGee alone and do your job instead, DiNozzo?" He pointed at the suspects, who were handcuffed in the back of a corridor leading to the lab. Mr Murray, Ziva and Dr Jackson were keeping an eye on them: two men, and two women, who -according to O'Neill- all used to work for a governmental organization called the NID. "Those people could stay in our NCIS detention rooms until the Air Force can arrange an escort to their high-security facilities, why don't you and Ziva drive them there?" he said, making sure O'Neill had heard him.

The Colonel nodded, giving his silent agreement to the underlying message given by Gibbs to Tony: _Interrogate them while we can._

"Got it, Boss," replied Tony.

Gibbs watched his senior field agent leave with Ziva, Dr Jackson and Mr Murray in tow. Both he and O'Neill hoped that they would be able to extract some information from these people before the Air Force could make up a story to cover for everything that had happened.

Gibbs was about to check what McGee and Carter had found when his cellphone rang. He frowned upon seeing the caller ID and almost didn't answer, but a gut feeling told him the timing of the call was not a simple coincidence.

"Gibbs," he said.

"Hey Boss," said Stan Burley's voice.

"What's up, Stan?" Gibbs appreciated Stan for many things. One of them was that he was not a man who gave calls without a purpose 'just to chat'.

"I... look, Boss, are you in DC? There is something you definitely need to see for yourself... "

"Now is not exactly the good time, Stan. I am in the middle of an investigation. What is it?"

"... I would really prefer for you to see but - oh, well, I suppose that you will understand what I mean if you talk to her. I'll put you through to her."

Gibbs was about to ask Stan to explain, but when he heard the voice at the end of the line, he became speechless.

McGee joined him just as he hung up. When he saw his boss's expression, the younger agent hesitated at first, but eventually started speaking. "Boss, Sam- I-I mean, Major Carter and I found something important. As expected, they had the entry device. What we hadn't expected was that there seems to be multiple -"

"-exit devices," completed Gibbs, at McGee's surprise.

"Well, hum, y-yes, exactly, Boss. How did you-"

"Because, McGee, I just got off the phone with Kate."


	10. Chapter 10

Disbelief. Pain. Joy. Nostalgia. Sadness. Excitement. Simultaneously, a mix of contradictory feelings had overwhelmed Gibbs when he had seen her.

Now he was staring at her intently as she sat in the conference room. He listened as she went on with her story of how she had been looking for McGee in Colorado, and had suddenly found herself alone...

"in the basement of a house somewhere in the suburb of Washington. And I know what you're thinking, Gibbs, but I can assure you that I was not on any kind of drugs."

Gibbs was miles away from thinking that at this precise moment, but this elicited a smile from him nonetheless. He realized how much he had missed that sarcasm. How much he had missed her.

"Anyway, since I couldn't reach McGee, and I was in DC anyway, I called Steve," Kate went on, pointing in the direction of Stan Burley.

"Steve?" repeated Gibbs, raising an eyebrow. He looked in Stan's direction. The latter just shrugged, indicating that he had no idea, either.

Kate did not seem to notice, and went on explaining : "well, yes, you know, in case of an emergency, call your boss. Makes sense in most parts of the world."

" _He_ 's your _Boss_?" asked DiNozzo, who had just entered the room.

Kate frowned upon seeing Tony. She turned to Burley and asked, bluntly: "What kind of sick joke is this, Steve ?"

Tony frowned. Even for Kate, this reaction to his arrival seemed a bit extreme. "What do you mean?" asked Stan, who had not been briefed on the specifics of the situation, and had just as much trouble figuring it all out as Kate did.

"You are kidding, right?" retorted Kate.

Tony and Stan looked at each other, shaking their heads in shared confusion. Gibbs, however, had a feeling he knew what this was about.  
"Tony is dead, isn't he?"

The tears which appeared in the corner of Kate's eyes were all the confirmation he needed. "You were there on the roof with us when Ari shot him. Why do you have to ask? What is this all about?"

Tony had paled significantly.

Gibbs sighed, and passed a hand before his eyes. "Look, Kate, what I am going to tell you is... extremely complicated, not to mention unbelievable by all standards. But basically, this man is really Tony. Only, he is not the Tony you know, just as I am not the Gibbs you know... and as you are not the Kate we knew."

One look at Gibbs and Tony told Kate that nobody was joking here. "What are you talking about? Are you all clones or something?"

Gibbs sighed. "Something like that. Let's just say - all we know, really - that an Airforce experiment went wrong, which erm... generated copies of everyone of us." More or less.

Kate couldn't help laughing. "Oh right, like Tesla in _The Prestige_?"

"Exactly like that," confirmed Tony, who had hardly recovered from the fact that Kate, of all people, was quoting movie references.

"You know, even for you guys, this joke is really bad."

"We're not joking, Kate," said Gibbs. "Or else, how would you explain that Tony is here? That you suddenly teletransported here from Colorado?"

Kate sighed in defeat. "I..."

"Trust me, I had trouble believing any of this at first as well," added Tony. "But none of this makes sense anyway..."

Everyone remained silent for a long time. It was Kate who spoke again first. "What happened to McGee?" she asked, sounding exhausted.

It took Gibbs and Tony over half an hour to explain everything to her and Burley. "I am adding you both to the team on this case," Gibbs told them once the explanation was over. Burley just nodded, unsure of what to say or believe anymore.

"What about me?" asked Kate. "since I- I am technically supposed to be dead, how can I be part of your team? The Director-"

Gibbs gave her a small smile. "Oh I don't think the Director will have anything to say about this. Besides, it's only temporary, until we find a way to get you back to your home -"

"-that may take a long time, Boss," said McGee. He had just joined them and was obviously out of breath. He gave Kate a strange look before he continued. "According to Major Carter, they have no idea at the moment how to calibrate the device to send Kate - or anyone- back to the right place."

"What does that mean?" asked Burley.

Gibbs tilted his head. "I guess it means that we are going to have to find Kate a more permanent status here -"

"Sorry, Kate," McGee added.

She gave him a small smile. "It's not exactly your fault, Tim. I just hope that your DiNozzo is less annoying than yours..."

Tony nearly choked at that.

Jenny Sheppard entered the room at that moment, and gave McGee a nod. The latter cleared his throat. "Hum, Boss - It also means something else, actually. According to Major Carter, it is going to get very crowded in here."

"How so?"

"Well, it seems that there may be three exit devices left outside the two we already found. And she believes that each of these devices are likely to generate duplicates from people from any version of our team -"

"-who are all going to end up calling here," finished Jenny. "Which is why I have assured the Air Force of our complete cooperation on this case. We are going to help them find the remaining devices and put an end to this."

Gibbs mentally measured the implications of this, and concluded that he was going to need to hit something or someone in a violent fashion. "Where is O'Neill?" he asked. _So I can tell him what I really think of him and his stupid plans._

"He and the rest of SG-1 left an hour ago," answered the Director nonchalantly, heading for the door.

"And Jethro," she added with a not-so-well-hidden smile, "Cheyenne Mountain is a heavily guarded facility, so I wouldn't waste too much energy on trying to reach him..."

As the door closed, Tony's phone started to ring. "DiNozzo?" he greeted.

"Tony! Where were you?" replied an angry woman's voice.

"Who is that?"

"Paula Cassidy, of course!"

Burley had to physically prevent Gibbs from throwing something violently on the floor. The coming weeks promised to be very, very, very long...

**The End**


End file.
